Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Snow Mountain Enlightenment

Night.

Li Shuang opened the Legacy Space once more.

A trace of expectation shone in her eyes. Senior Su had said that when she entered the Legacy Space again, he would pass on the first form of the Emotionless Sword Art.

She was curious too. This was the technique said to be cultivated by the founding Ancestor; what kind of brilliance would it have?

The moment she stepped into the Legacy Space this time, Li Shuang was a little surprised.

The scene was no longer the same blank white space.

As soon as she entered, a bone-deep chill rushed over her. She found herself standing on the peak of that very snow mountain. Seeing this familiar place, Li Shuang could not help feeling a bit dazed.

Su Mu’s calm voice sounded: “This scene is drawn from the depths of your memory. Li Shuang, it was here that you met the greatest change of your life, and by that strong feeling you entered the Emotionless Path. Today, you should also begin the first form of the Emotionless Sword Art here.”

He added softly: “This place is where you entered the path and where you were reborn. Best of all, you bear an Ice Spiritual Root, and this place is ice and snow. Heaven chose your training ground for you.”

Li Shuang nodded.

Her mind was steady. The Supreme Emotionless Art flowed slowly. The world was cold, but warm currents still rose in her core.

If she had not cultivated the Supreme Emotionless Art, then even after surviving by a hair, seeing this scene again would have stabbed her heart once more.

But now, she felt only peace.

The images were still clear. Here, to protect Ye Zhao Zhao, she fought a Snow Fiend. Here, to cover the retreat, she stopped the chasing Snow Fiend alone. Here, holding her last hope, she sent a message to the person she trusted most, and was stabbed to the bone with pain. Here, she was betrayed by the Sword Spirit she had raised with her own hands and came close to death.

These things should have hurt very much, but she could no longer quite call up those fierce emotions.

She only remembered that here, the Heaven and Earth Furnace appeared.

She only remembered that here, she gained new life.

This place was her end and also her beginning.

That the Legacy Space could pull the snow mountain from her memory and copy it one to one was truly shocking.

Li Shuang suspected that even her Master, who had kept the jade slip all this time, likely had no idea how mysterious this Inheritance Jade Slip really was.

After all, in a thousand years, she alone had entered the Emotionless Path, and she alone could truly open this space.

Su Mu smiled: “Here, I will pass on the doctrine of the Emotionless Sword Art.”

Every person on the Emotionless Path has a place of enlightenment.

For Li Shuang, that place was here.

Five days would be enough for her to complete a transformation.

Su Mu waved his hand.

On the empty snow mountain, many Snow Fiends suddenly appeared.

A sword also appeared in Su Mu’s hand.

Li Shuang noticed it at once. Before, Su Mu had used an iron sword.

But now he held a wooden sword.

In sharpness, iron was far above wood.

Last time he met her, he had sealed his Way of the Sword at a level below Sword Domain, and back then he used iron. This time, Li Shuang clearly felt the aura of Sword Domain from him. Su Mu had released part of his Way of the Sword, yet his sword was wood.

[Is the Great Dao… simple?]

Li Shuang thought it but did not speak.

A trace of praise flashed in Su Mu’s eyes. Li Shuang was truly a genius of the Way of the Sword. Without pointed hints, she could find insight on her own. A Disciple like this was the dream of every Master.

The Snow Fiends surged forward. Holding the wooden sword, Su Mu stepped up to meet them, and said lightly: “Li Shuang, watch closely.”

He spoke, each word clear: “To forget feelings is not to have no feeling.”

He continued: “To have no desire is not to cut off desire.”

As he chanted, even a wooden sword bloomed with unmatched edge.

A row of Snow Fiends fell.

He said gently: “Forgetting feelings is not being heartless. It is forgetting the self. Look at the snow mountain. Every flake of snow and every thread of wind has its own force. When you forget the self, you can blend into heaven and earth and move with the flow of the Dao.”

In that instant, Su Mu’s figure turned ethereal.

He seemed to become the snow, the wind, and the mountain.

Li Shuang watched, lost in it. She had never seen sword work like Su Mu’s. His sword had no stiff set moves, no chains of theory from the Way of the Sword. He was directly sensing the Dao.

This sword art, at the very first step, was already enlightenment.

Emotionless Sword Art.

It was truly awe-inspiring.

Su Mu chanted, his voice like a bell: “From Taiyi and the Three Pure Ones where mortals begin; when the Spirit Terrace grows bright, the body grows light. Cast off three thousand trials of the Mortal Realm, and leap in one step into clear emptiness.”

With each word he spoke, a Snow Fiend fell. By the time he finished, all the Snow Fiends lay on the ground and then faded to nothing.

Su Mu sheathed the sword, face calm and breath steady, and asked: “Li Shuang, have you understood anything?”

Li Shuang nodded, thoughtful: “The Emotionless Sword Art… does it have no fixed sword moves?”

The praise in Su Mu’s eyes grew stronger as he said softly: “Through the ages, the Emotionless Path has had many inheritors. Each has their own unique sword art. They grasped it in a desperate moment, and it fit them best. Since you have entered the Emotionless Path, you should already have your own Emotionless Sword Art. It is only that you lacked the general formula, so you did not know how to refine your insights into a sword art.”

He continued: “Now I will pass you the general formula. Feel it carefully here on the snow mountain. The Emotionless Sword Art is the sword that opens the path. With your current level, you should be able to grasp the first form.”

Li Shuang nodded.

He said, gentle yet firm: “Sit and cross your legs.” Li Shuang sat down at once.

Su Mu began to recite the formula, slow and clear: “Hold your mind on your core and gather your spirit; let worldly memories appear before your eyes. At the profound gate, gather spirit and turn it into qi…”

Li Shuang closed her eyes and listened quietly.

The general formula only taught a way to use the sword.

Its focus was to sense nature and heaven and earth, and then create one’s own Emotionless Sword Dao.

The founding Ancestor had his own Way of the Sword.

What about herself?

[What is my Way of the Sword?]

Worldly memories rose one by one before Li Shuang.

As a child, on the day her mother gave birth, her father vanished without a trace.

Her mother raised her alone and turned the Heaven and Earth Furnace into a jade carving for her to wear.

Later.

As a little child in a world that eats people alive, she struggled to survive.

Later still.

After great hardship she came here. It was Immortal Ling Xu who gave her the first help she had ever received from a stranger.

After that.

She had fifteen years of hard work poured out like her heart’s blood.

Then ten years of sinking into pain.

These experiences all became nourishment that made her Spirit Terrace clearer and her heart of Dao more pure.

To forget feelings is not to have no feeling.

To be human is to have feeling.

If you cut off feeling, how can you still be human?

All kind feelings feed her growth.

All evil feelings can no longer stain her clear heart.

Snow fell thickly. Li Shuang sat without moving, and soon the snow buried her into the shape of a snowman.

Li Shuang still did not move.